Encounter With a Disarming Lady
by Bineshii
Summary: After sending Brian off on a mission of his own, Sir Lancelot goes on a mission where he encounters a lady in distress. This turns out to be a trap!


**Note about the story: **This story contains a scene where Lancelot tries to help a lady by climbing a tree to retrieve her hawk. It is one of the stories of Sir Lancelot from Le Mort d'Arthur and possibly of earlier origin. It seems so like the kind of situation that William Russell's Lancelot would get himself into, that I could not resist using it. Wouldn't it have been great fun to have seen this as an episode in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot? It reminds me of the episode "The Lady Lilith" where Lancelot, breaking down a door, finds himself falling into a pool by the design of a clever lady. Lancelot does not always come off best when dealing with the ladies!

This story also sets up for my story which follows it called "The Shadow Warrior", where Brian is off on a mission alone.

**Encounter With a Disarming Lady**

A further Adventure in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot

By Bineshii

Sir Dennis' equipment lay stacked neatly along a wall next to the practice field. Some of it looked new.

Sir Kay frowned at Sir Gawain and said "apparently Sir Dennis has learned something, at least, from his mentor up north. He keeps his equipment better and he looks less portly."

"I make no judgment on any seeming improvements in this young man until I see him on the field. The state of his equipment may be due to the ministrations of his new squire," remarked Sir Gawain.

"You may be right," said Sir Kay, stoking his chin. "Perhaps we shall see shortly. He is now arming himself and beckoning to Sir Bors to be his practice partner."

Sir Bors nodded to Sir Dennis and turned his back to warm up with a couple practice swings of his sword. Sir Dennis did the same and the pair faced each other, both with neutral expressions and ease in body language. Sir Bors feinted with a cut up to the left which Sir Dennis parried easily, then lifting his sword over that of Sir Bors, he sliced down on the other side, batting Sir Bors' sword aside.

"Ho there! You seemed to be quicker than before, my friend," chortled Sir Bors, taking a step back before coming in again, sliding his weapon along that of Sir Dennis in a power move before aiming for a chest cut which Sir Dennis beat away while stepping forward to come up under Sir Bors' sword with a blow that practically disarmed the man.

The two men continued their bout, drawing the surprised attention of Sir Lancelot and Sir Lionel. Even the squires dealing with equipment, stopped what they were doing to observe. Neither knight seemed to be gaining an advantage or tiring.

Finally, Sir Lionel said "When are you two going to let the rest of us get some practice in?"

Sir Dennis took a few steps back lowering his sword, then he raised one hand palm forward. "I yield for the sake of not keeping these other gentlemen from their morning exercise."

Sir Bors laughed, breathing heavily. "The year you spent up north was worth it! You have improved tremendously. If you had not called a halt, I would have been close to being overcome. I should yield to you! I think this time when you apply for membership of the Round Table, you will be accepted."

"Let us call it a draw, then," smiled Sir Dennis, as the two discarded a gauntlet to shake hands before walking to a bench for a well earned rest.

"I am curious, Sir Dennis, what is the name of this mysterious mentor who has been training you over the past year?" asked Sir Lancelot.

"My mentor is known as The Shadow."

"Has this shadow a given name?"

"The pact for my tutoring included an oath not to reveal anything about the identity or origin of my mentor," said Sir Dennis. "I am only allowed to say that my training occurred on the Isle of Skye and that I may give a token of recommendation to one other person who desires special training."

Sir Lancelot paused in his warming up exercises to tilt his head in thought. Then he said "Sir Dennis, I would like to confer with you later about a possible candidate for this training."

...

Merlin sat at his work table, his chin resting on the hand propped up by his elbow on the table. In his other hand he held a glass beaker, swirling it to mix the contents in his latest attempt to create an ink that would appear as red as blood. He practically jumped out of his skin when a voice whispered in his ear: "I am loath to disturb a great artist at work. What, pray tell, is that?"

"Lancelot! If one creeps up on a magician at work, one is likely to be inadvertently overcome by fumes of a lethal concoction."

Lancelot straightened and backed swiftly away.

Merlin chuckled, set the beaker in a wooden frame, and turned to regard the young knight with narrowed eyes. "What brings you into my lair this time, my friend?"

Lancelot stepped forward again, his hand wandering over objects on Merlin's table in idle curiosity, before he replied. "As you must know, the king has given me a mission to investigate the possibility of a threat to King Bagdemagus, an ally and cousin of King Arthur, who holds lands south of here. I am to go alone, under the guise of just another young knight looking for adventure and with no particular destination. Since I will be gone for several weeks, I am concerned about Brian's progress with his studies under your tutelage. I think he may be back from his latest assignment before I will be."

"Worried about Brian, are you? You need not be, since I threatened to turn his hair green with magic if he persisted in his pranks. He has been behaving himself."

Lancelot put his hands on his hips and laughed . "Serves the boy right. Could you really turn his hair green?"

"Or blue, if I wanted to. I told him it would be the very shade to match the color of his tunic, which would certainly be a sensation in the practice yard of the Squire's School."

Lancelot chuckled. "Now that would be just the thing to embarrass the boy into good behavior. I am glad you were not around to conspire with my mother when I was a boy."

Merlin raised his chin and assumed a serious expression. "I heard a rumor that your mother is planning a visit to Camelot to introduce your younger sister to the court at the Autumn Solstice Feast. Perhaps, I could have a word with her then..."

"Oh no you don't," chortled Lancelot raising both his hands palm forward and taking a step backward as if warding off a magic spell. "Believe me, she can manipulate me well enough all by herself."

"Well then, just consider it fair warning that I can keep other people besides young Brian in line. By the way, would you mind if I teach him a protective spell or two for his journey north?"

"Do as you please, Merlin," said Lancelot. "Though I would hope my training of him at arms so far, would serve him better. Well, I am off now. The best of luck to you with that," Lancelot remarked, as he pointed at the beaker where the red liquid was fast fading to a murky brown.

"Damn!" said Merlin. "Yes off with you now! I think your body chemistry has affected this highly sensitive experiment!"

Merlin heard Lancelot's soft chuckle as the knight skipped lightly down the stairway outside of his magic laboratory.

...

Brian seemed a bit dejected as he saddled Caledon for Sir Lancelot. He checked the harness on the pack horse and mentally reviewed the supplies he had packed for his knight. He would rather have gone on this mission too, and not have been assigned to travel so far north alone to discover what was so special about Sir Dennis' mentor. It would take him two or three weeks at least to reach the Isle of Skye. But Master Hugh, King Arthur, and Lancelot, all agreed that more information was needed about this martial arts trainer who could turn a mediocre knight into a highly skilled one. Brian would be traveling with a group of monks and merchants most of the way. It would be safer, but it would slow him down. He was not especially looking forward to spending the summer away from Camelot in this fashion.

"Why so glum, Brian?"

Brian turned to see Sir Lancelot all chipper and eager to be off on his mission.

Brian sighed and said "I would rather be going with you."

"Come, boy, you have your own very interesting mission to be off on tomorrow."

"I know. And I am grateful to have been chosen. But why couldn't we have gone to visit this shadow person together?"

Lancelot laughed. "This shadow person would not have believed that I had come to him for training, do you think?"

"So I am to be the spy. And I don't think The Shadow would believe I needed training either, since I have you to train me."

"Your cover story is likely to hold."

"But it was only at first that the other squires rejected me or that Master Hugh was suspicious of my lack of noble background."

"The Shadow doesn't have to know that." Then giving Brian a clap on the back, Sir Lancelot mounted Caledon and jerked on the pack horse's lead, raising his other hand in a cheerful good-bye.

Brian felt deserted. Until now he hadn't realized how much he had grown to enjoy Sir Lancelot's company. How foolish he had been that first day at Camelot when he had had the temerity to ask for a more experienced man than Sir Lancelot to go on the mission he had brought before the king. But now, there was no one else in the world that Brian wanted to be off on a mission with.

...

Lancelot had been riding for some days without encountering anything but peaceful merchants on the road and farmers too busy plowing spring fields to bother socializing with a lonely knight errant. Lancelot was bored. He now topped a rise that looked down on a wide river valley with one castle and many small hamlets with freshly plowed fields around them. There were patches of old forest, but mostly the land was cultivated for crops or pasture land dotted with grazing domestic animals.

He gently urged Caledon down toward the castle with his heals. The horse needed little guidance as the road was well marked. As he traveled through the flat area of the valley, he saw a lady watching him. His presence must have distracted her from tending the hawk on her arm because the bird took the opportunity to take off, trailing its tethering lines behind it.

The lady turned and snatched at the tethers, shrieking "Oh! My! No! Come back!"

Lancelot steered Caledon toward her and stopped a few feet behind her. She turned, face in dismay and walked over to him.

"Good Sir knight! You have caused me to lose my hawk and therefore must help me to retrieve it."

"I caused this mishap? Dear Lady, pardon my observation, but it was your inattention to that bird which caused you to lose it."

She stared at him with sad eyes, looking about to burst into tears. "Good Sir, that well may be. But noticing a very handsome knight approaching, what could you expect of a poor distracted lady?"

Lancelot was used to the eyes of the fair sex locking onto him and tracking him. He was not above enjoying that and flirting with a lady as comely as this one. It was a welcome break from a lonely and tedious journey. Also, his knightly ethics would not allow him to ignore a lady in distress, whatever the cause.

"I will do whatever I can to rectify this situation," he offered gallantly. "My name is Sir Lancelot of the Lake. May I ask your name?"

"I am the wife of Sir Phelot, the lord of this valley. He will beat me when he finds out I have lost his favorite hawk."

"I do not abide men abusing a lady! I will certainly try to help you retrieve your hawk!"

Both of them then turned to watch the progress of the hawk. It retracted its wings and landed high up in the branches of an oak tree. Dismounting from Caledon, Lancelot walked with the lady to the base of the tree. Seeing them approach, the hawk tried to take off from its branch, but was yanked back by the tethers which had become tangled in the stems jutting out from the branch.

"Oh please climb up there and get my hawk!" Whined the lady piteously.

Lancelot looked at the tree with vexation. He had not climbed a tree since he was ten years old and the hawk was higher in this tree than he had ever climbed as a boy. He certainly could not begin to climb up there in heavy armor. Reluctantly, he removed his helm and with no squire to help him, he realized that the lady must aid him in removing everything else.

"My Lady, it will be necessary for you to help me, before I can help you. You must help me with my armor."

"That I will gladly do," she said, smiling. "I have, of course, often helped my husband so."

When Lancelot was down to practically his underwear, with only a lightly padded tunic and trousers to keep him decently clad in front of a lady, he walked beneath the tree, and sighed as he looked way up into it. He noted the hawk had entangled itself further, but now was sitting still. Fitting a bare toe into the rough bark, he boosted himself up to the first branch.

It was slow going, his padded under tunic catching on the bark and small stems. He scratched his cheek but bit back an oath he would have directed at the tree, had not a lady been present. How had he ever enjoyed this activity as a boy? As he recalled, he hadn't enjoyed it much. The last tree he had climbed had been to determine his location when he had been lost in a forest near Benwick. Even his little sister was more agile at climbing trees than he was! He now regretted the fact that Brian was not with him, for he would have sent the boy up the tree, while he stayed armed below in case of other trouble coming along. He now had an uneasy feeling about being unarmed and practically naked up a tree.

He at last reached the branch the hawk was on. He started to inch his way along it, on his belly. Trying not to look down in case he should become dizzy, he stiffened his muscles, making matters worse. In a soft voice, he spoke to the hawk who was watching him with frightened eyes. "Hey now, my little beauty, you will soon be free," whispered Lancelot, calming his own mounting anxiety as well as the hawk's. "There, there, I am just untangling this tether."

The hawk snaked his neck down and bit the back of Lancelot's hand.

"Owch, damn it, you vicious little beast!"

Lancelot looked down to see if the lady had heard him.

Far below she looked up at him and shouted "Don't hurt my poor bird!"

"Lady, it was not me doing the hurting!"

Lancelot repressed a dizzy spell, and returned to his task. He had the tethers off of the big branch now. Then he had an idea. Instead of removing the remaining tethers from a smaller branch, he could break this smaller branch off from the tree. Dropping it down still attached to the hawk would keep it from flying off again and its weight would make the hawk glide down to the ground.

Hanging on with one hand on the big branch, he twisted his wrist on the smaller branch and it broke away. He threw the branch out away from the tree and watched as the hawk, squawking, spread its wings and floated down to the ground where the lady immediately scooped it up, tying the tethers onto her arm before disentangling the branch.

Mission accomplished, Lancelot began sliding back off the branch he was on. He wanted to get his armor back on as quickly as he could. But half way down, he heard the hoof beats of an approaching horse. Turning with a sinking feeling in his gut, he saw an armed knight approaching. The knight stopped beside the woman and said "Good work! I will take it from here. Return to the castle because you don't want to see what comes next."

"Yes, My Husband," the lady said, turning her back on the tree and Sir Lancelot, and walking swiftly away.

Lancelot shouted after her "Lady, what is this? I acted in good faith but it seems you have betrayed me!"

Sir Phelot laughed and looked up at Lancelot to say "She only has done as I asked her! I have long wanted to take down a knight of your caliber, Sir Lancelot. And unarmed it will be so easy. Make your peace with whatever god or gods you worship, and prepare to meet them."

"Have you no shame, Sir?" Lancelot shouted down from his perch. "You call yourself a knight? For shame! You will be unable to hold your head up in knightly company if you kill me without armor or weapon to defend myself!"

The man laughed brandishing a sword in one hand while impatiently circling his horse around the tree. "And who will hear how I did the deed? My wife will not talk. No one else is close enough to see how I dispatch you. Come down now! Let us get this over with!"

Lancelot could have kicked himself for letting a lady trick him into this situation. He took a couple of deep breaths to think. No, he was not completely weaponless if he could break off a dead branch he saw further down the tree. It was a desperate chance, but at least a chance. He would not go down without a fight.

He was almost low enough to be within swords reach of Sir Phelot when he grabbed the dead branch and broke it free with a loud crack.

"That will be of little help to you," laughed Sir Phelot.

"More than you think," muttered Lancelot, weary from his reverse climb but angry enough to be recharging his energy.

When Sir Phelot placed his horse beneath the spot from which he expected Lancelot to jump from the tree, Lancelot surprised him by running along the branch and leaping on top of him, knocking him off his horse.

Lancelot rolled to his feet quickly, being unencumbered by heavy armor, and swung the branch, knocking the sword out of Sir Phelot's hand as the man tried clumsily to stand up. Lancelot deftly retrieved the sword, thrusting it into Sir Phelot's neck through a gap in his armor. The man sank back to the ground without a sound, and perhaps without even knowing what had hit him.

Breathing heavily, Lancelot backed away, watching to see that the man was finished before he turned to get back into his own armor. As he was doing this, the lady returned, running up to him without the hawk, and shrieked when she saw her husband's body, his own sword standing upright through his neck.

Lancelot, still very angry, took no pity on the lady's stricken face, saying "For shame, Lady, for using me so! Here you see the fruits of your betrayal!"

"How could you! You beast!" she screamed at him.

"How could I? Lady, let this be your punishment! The only reason I do not hold you accountable for your betrayal is that this man would no doubt have abused you further if you had not complied with his demand to help him overcome me through treachery! Think on that before you utter another word against me!"

With that, Lancelot put on such of his armor as he could manage himself, and tied the rest of it to his pack horse before mounting Caledon and riding away. He was riding up the slope on the further side of the valley when a farmer's wife hailed him over. Thinking he might be offered a bit to eat, he halted Caledon in the road to smile down at her.

"Sir knight, I saw you down in the valley earlier, climbing a tree to retrieve what seemed to be my good mistress' hawk. You appeared to be a good climber as I watched you for a while, before going inside my little house here to start a stew for my family's evening meal. Now you may share this meal with my family if you would help me by climbing this pear tree of mine and picking some dozen or so early spring pears to go with our meal."

Lancelot's smile disappeared. "Good Woman, I decline your offer as I must be away from this valley by nightfall."

This was in fact true, as Lancelot did not wish to be pursued by any of Sir Phelot's men who might wish to take vengeance for his death. But the 'good woman' was not pleased. She picked up a fallen pear and threw it at Sir Lancelot, saying "be off with you then, you ill bred man!"

The pear struck Caledon on the rump and startled, the horse jumped forward. Lancelot let Caledon run off his fright, the pack horse straining to keep up. After they topped the rise and were well into the next valley, Lancelot reined in Caledon, giving him a pat on the neck as the horse recovered his wind. It gave the pack horse time to catch up, trailing its lead rope that Lancelot had dropped to let Caledon go at his own pace.

"Why do these things happen to me when I am without my good squire, Brian, to help me?" Lancelot asked of Caledon. "This is not a good day for me with the ladies, Caledon. For you either. Let us see how far we can get from here before we find shelter for the night."

Caledon, as usual, and probably wisely, was silent on the subject - accept for a short snort and a turn of his head to look at Lancelot as if to say "Well, when are we going to make camp so you can rub me down and feed me?"

Lancelot sighed and raised his eyes as if to contemplate his eyebrows. Seeing that unruly curl of hair out of place again, he swiped it away with the back of his hand. The thought crossed his mind that these sorts of adventures did happen to him whether Brian was along or not. So he started searching in earnest for a good place to camp. On reviewing the day's events, he was thinking that he did not want to get good at, or even SEEMINGLY good at, something he did not want to be doing. He would not be considering tree climbing among the skills a knight needed to have. He consoled himself with the fact that as soon as he finished this business with King Bagdemagus, he would go straight home to Camelot where at least the queen would listen in sympathy to the trials which peppered the life of a knight errant.

10


End file.
